1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method for closing a receptacle for radioactive wastes and a device implementing the said method.
It concerns, more particularly, a method and a device for closing a receptacle making it possible to avoid the pollution of the outside surface of that receptacle when drawing up to a loading station.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known that the methods for disposing of radioactive wastes consist of placing these latter in fluid-tight barrels and then in burying them, for example, in the bottom of a mine which has fallen into disuse.
It is known also that the filling and the closing of these receptacles sets very acute pollution problems. To avoid the contamination of the loading premises, the following method is generally used: the receptacle to be filled is brought on a carriage into a handling room towards a fluid-tight chamber, then the carriage draws the receptacle up to the loading station. During that drawing up operation, the open barrel is connected in a fluid-tight manner to the isolated cell containing the radioactive wastes. The receptacle can then be filled without danger of contamination. then the isolated premises containing the radioactive wastes is closed up; the receptacle is disconnected from the isolated cell and it is closed. If, at that stage, the outside surface of the receptacle bears radioactive wastes, the loading room will be contaminated; that contamination will be propagated to the outside. It is therefore indispensable to draw up, fill and disconnect the receptacle with the certainty that none of the outside surfaces of the receptacle are or will be polluted.
The problem is, however, slightly simplified by the fact that users have generally come to an agreement to use only one type of receptacle constituted by a cylindrical barrel with a flat lid whose fluid-tight sealing is provided by means of a flat seal compressed between the upper thickness surface of the receptacle and the lid.
The inventor therefore concentrated on finding a method and a device making it possible to draw up, fill and close a standard receptacle having a flat seal while ensuring protection against the contamination of the outside surface of the receptacle.